--Okay, this is one of two stories that I'm going to post on here... This is my first time posting any of my stories. I hope you all enjoy!--

Kagome Higurashi held up a hand to shade her eyes as she checked the sun's position. Her mom had made a delicious picnic lunch for her and her companions: Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippou and Kirara. At the moment, they were all simply "moving forward" as Inuyasha put it. He had said they needed to look for clues to Naraku's whereabouts, although she didn't get how they could do that if they never saw or spoke to anyone. Inuyasha was just so irrational. Kagome sighed and closed her eyes, then instantly regretted it as her bike hit a huge rock and fell over, bringing her down with it. The next thing she knew, Inuyasha was pulling her up and yelling at her for being such a klutz.

"Kagome, I don't know what the hell you would do if I didn't watch out for you all the time!! You're like a little kid!!"

Enraged, Kagome pulled her arm out of his grip and put her hands on her hips.

"Whaddya mean, I'M a little kid?! YOU'RE the one who insists on dragging us all around the countryside without really getting new information or going anywhere! You are such a selfish idiot, Inuyasha! Why don't you think about someone else for a change??"

Inuyasha turned bright red, then retorted, "You're one to talk! You're only mad cuz you fell off your thing and looked stoooopid!"

"Don't even THINK…!"

"You're such a…"

"Enough!" Miroku said loudly as he, Sango and Shippou jumped off Kirara's back. "You're BOTH acting like idiots! Kagome, let's stop this. It's lunchtime. How about that picnic?"

With one last glare at the insensitive half-demon, Kagome whipped around and bent down to pick up her bike. She grabbed the bag containing the lunch and marched over to a nearby tree. Everyone followed her cautiously (especially Inuyasha) and the meal was spent in total silence.

As he crumpled up the wrappings on his lunch, Miroku sent a subtle signal to Sango to take Kagome somewhere away from Inuyasha. Sango gave a small nod to show she understood and looked around for something, anything to use as a distraction. Suddenly she spotted a hot spring partially hidden by trees in the woods. Smiling, she turned to Kagome. "Wanna go for a 'spa treatment' as you call it? There's a hot spring right over there!" Before Kagome could say anything, Sango took off for the forest. Kagome watched her for a second, then followed.

Once they were out of earshot, Miroku turned to Inuyasha. "You like getting into trouble, don't you?" "What the hell are you talkin' about?" Inuyasha snapped. However, he was steadily turning redder and redder. Miroku just rolled his eyes and sipped the delicious drink from Kagome's picnic. Then he entertained himself by watching Sango's ass shake as she walked toward the spring and, thankfully, away from Inuyasha. Kagome was pretty much like a ticking bomb around him. Since she was acting incredibly kind and considerate about Kikyo, Miroku figured that she had to take it out on the two-timer other ways. All that could really be done was to distract Kagome, at least until Inuyasha made his choice.

Meanwhile, the two young women had just reached the forest and were beginning to feel the warmth from the tranquil spring. Much as she hated to admit it, Kagome was starting to feel glad about coming to this peaceful place. She needed to unwind. So many unpleasant thoughts had been going through her head lately, and she needed to let go of a lot of stress. As she stripped, she glanced back at the idiotic, crude, loveable half-demon. She knew that the way she felt when she was around him was NOT good, but being away from him was even worse. Let's all just face it—he's addictive. Most of you reading this probably would agree. And Kagome definitely would. Even though she would hate saying it.

Anyway, Kagome thought about her feelings and his feelings and everything she had thought about ten million times. She was about to be sucked in when she forced herself to look away and push HIM out of her head. She was in a beautiful, secluded paradise with a spa all set up for her. Why should she be sad or reflective? She should learn to live in the moment more. And she would start right now. Squaring her shoulders (not exactly relaxing, but she's new at it), she stepped into the spring. Finally letting her body become fluid and loose, she slipped down into the steaming water, giving Sango a contented smile. She could do this. She could stay here forever. She could sleep here and never have to worry about guys or jewels or anything ever…

Kagome woke with a start. She had been having a wonderful dream. She was back in her era, she was eating with her friends and they were all laughing and talking… just a group of ordinary teens. Kagome couldn't remember what they had been talking about. It didn't really matter.

Kagome let out a small groan as she was jerked out of her wonderful nap. Why had she woken up? She was still sooo sleepy. Was everything ok? Suddenly she heard someone calling her name. They didn't sound panicked. With a slight moan, she opened her eyes, which felt like 100 pound weights had been attached to them. Sango was standing up, looking through the trees. "Kagome," she kept saying.

"What?" Kagome asked, sitting up slowly. "If Miroku and Inuyasha are here--"

"No," Sango cut her off, "I hear a battle… or something."

"Kay, let's check it out," Kagome replied, reluctantly pulling on her clothes. Rough laughter resounded from somewhere nearby, in the direction Sango was looking. Then, suddenly, a girl's voice yelled something. Startled, Kagome and Sango looked at each other, then ran quickly toward the fight.

When they reached a small meadow, they stopped dead. There was a young girl, about 13 years old, standing at the other end of the field. She had a long, wild shock of fiery orange/red hair. She looked like a demon—she had dog ears on the side of her head. She was gripping a long sword—and all around her lay bodies. Or what they thought were bodies. They were so mangled that they were almost unrecognizable. The girl quietly sheathed her sword and started walking into the forest.

"Hey!! Hey, wait!!" Kagome started to run after her. The girl whirled around at lightening speed, one hand on her sword's scabbard. When she saw Kagome, she looked infinitely surprised. After a moment, though, she put on a passive face and stood still. Kagome stopped about twenty feet away from her. She could see the girl more clearly now. The young woman had piercing green eyes that were emphasized by thick lashes. Across her nose was a patch of freckles, and she looked even younger up close.

"Why did you do that to those men?" Sango asked pointedly. Kagome jumped; she had not heard her friend come up behind her. "Were they harassing you?"

The girl looked down for a moment, then stared directly at Sango. Her face was set stubbornly. "Yeah. They were trying to steal my sword from me. So I showed them who they were dealing with. You gotta problem with that?"

Sango involuntarily took a step back. Whoa. This kid had some serious guts—and some serious attitude. Sango wondered if she could really be that powerful. She looked over to Kagome to see what she thought about all this, but she seemed deep in thought. Sango turned to the girl again. Her face was still stubborn and somewhat challenging. "How old are you?" Sango demanded.

The girl flushed but didn't break her gaze. "12," she mumbled.

"And your name is…"

"… Arina."

"Are you all alone?"

"…"

While Sango was busy interrogating the girl, Kagome stood thinking very hard. She knew she had seen this girl before. She looked so familiar, it couldn't be a coincidence. But she had absolutely no memories of ever talking to her or smiling at her or even just seeing her in a village. Who was she?? Kagome had to find out, and it looked like the girl wasn't in a sharing mood. Well, she would just have to give her a little time. And she knew just the way to do that.

Cutting Sango off (Arina wasn't answering anyway), Kagome declared, "I think you should stay with us for a while, Arina. Do you want to do that?"

Both Arina and Sango looked taken aback, but almost instantaneously, Arina's face broke into a wide, almost satisfied grin. "Sure," she controlled herself, as if she was so excited, she almost couldn't stand it. "Are there more in your group?"

"Kagome…" Sango hissed. "Don't!"

"Yeah, there are more of us outside of the woods. C'mon, we'll take you to them."

"Kagome!!" Sango hissed through her teeth this time. And she sounded really angry.

Kagome pretended not to have heard and started toward the guys. Arina quickly bounded after her, with Sango walking slowly and sullenly behind them.

--I hope you liked it! I would really appreciate it if you could review this and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading!--